THE COST of severance payments for officers leaving the Police Service of Northern Ireland is expected to reach £1 billion, new figures reveal.
The packages were offered to serving RUC members in early 2001, before the PSNI was formed that year, as part of an effort to increase significantly the percentage of Catholics in the new police service.
The payments followed the reform of policing as outlined by the Patten Commission which also called for a 50-50 balance in recruits drawn from Catholic and “Other” backgrounds.
The projected costs for the next two years were discussed by the Stormont committee tasked with examination of the devolution of policing and justice which met yesterday.
They show that 350 full-time officers will take up the severance offer in each of the next two years at a total cost of some £88 million. On top of this more than 500 part-time officers will leave over the same timeframe costing another £44 million – bringing the bill for two financial years to £132 million.
DUP member Ian Paisley jnr said the huge costs of the severance scheme were a drain on policing resources at a time of need. He also said some experienced officers were in line for significant pay-outs.
“It is incredible but some people are being paid in excess of £1 million in settlement,” he said last night. “It’s lottery stuff.”
Mr Paisley admitted that the PSNI officers concerned were entitled to the severance package but pointed to what he said was a “considerable downside”.
“Firstly here we are paying off some of our most valued and experienced officers at a time when the police is under immense pressure in terms of its ability to detect crime,” he said.
“Secondly we have gaps in terms of prison service, courts service, youth justice and policing which amounts to over £600 million and yet in the next year and a half [Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward] will have to pay almost half of that in severance payments to get rid of skilled police officers.” People should tell the Northern Secretary this doesn’t add up, he said, adding that the issue was bound to affect the planned devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont.
The Patten Commission, which drew up the blueprint for policing reform in Northern Ireland, called for a recruitment programme which delivered 30 per cent Catholic recruitment by 2010-11 in a police service of about 7,500 officers. A severance package for established officers was put in place and it is the cost of this which has angered unionists.
West Belfast SDLP member Alex Attwood said the figures should shock no one as it was known for years these costs would be incurred.
“Everyone went into this with their eyes wide open,” he said.
Pointing to a police service which was more accurately reflecting the religious composition of the community it serves he said: “This is a priceless asset.”